NFL fans look forward to Sundays like a hungry dog awaits its next meal. The other major sports leagues in the United States, namely MLB and the NBA, have games nearly every day, which is both a blessing and a curse. Fans are treated to more of the entertainment they love, but each game means less. The NFL forces us to wait, making it that much sweeter when game day comes. Fantasy football just adds to the intrigue.

For those who don’t know, fantasy football is a game that assigns a certain number of points to various football plays. For instance, a receiving touchdown may be worth six points, and a sack could be worth two. The league manager decides prior to the fantasy season what plays will equate to points. Leagues may be standard or PPR (points per reception). The league that I play in is PPR, which means that any catch equates to a point, regardless of whether it results in positive or negative yardage.

This NFL season was my first playing fantasy football, and it will not be my last. I never felt like I had the time to play fantasy sports, but a group of buddies talked me into it, and I’ve had a blast.

While I have been fortunate enough to have a good team that sits at the top of my league, success is not what caused me to fall in love with fantasy football.

Fantasy adds an entirely new element to the greatness that is an NFL Sunday. When you manage your own fantasy team, the player pool that you draft from is the entire NFL, meaning you are almost guaranteed to have a roster filled with players from many or all of the different NFL teams.

By drafting players from many different teams, a fantasy team manager gains a whole new level of interest in nearly every game on the schedule each Sunday, which makes game day that much more fun.

The aspect of fantasy football that has gripped me the most is the rivalry of it. It allows you to compete against your friends, which is always incredibly fun. Winning gives you bragging rights, and losing opens you up to being teased. Trash talk is prevalent during the week.

Fantasy football gives you a platform to talk football with other like-minded people who enjoy the game, and gives credence to different opinions, predictions and general tomfoolery.

Fantasy football has been a great experience for me this season, and it is something I will continue to be a part of for as long as I can.